Stocks in Asia Pacific were little changed in Thursday morning trade as a private survey showed China's services sector slumping in April.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.21% as shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group dropped 3.04% while the Topix index shed 0.51%. South Korea's Kospi also declined 0.29%.
Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed in early trade, with the Shanghai composite down 0.24% while the Shenzhen composite added 0.105%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia slipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.52%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.48% lower.
On the economic data front, China's Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers' Index for April showed that the country's services sector slumped for the third straight month, as layoffs hit a record, according to Reuters. It came in at 44.4, an improvement from the 43 reading in March — but still off the 50-level that separates growth from contraction.
Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are closed on Thursday for holidays.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell for the first time in three days. The Dow closed 218.45 points lower at 23,664.64 while the S&P 500 slid 0.7% to end its trading day at 2,848.42. The Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, rose 0.7% to close at 8,854.39.
The moves stateside came as a report from ADP and Moody's Analytics showed private payrolls were cut by 20.2 million last month — the worst print in the data series' history. Still, that was not as bad as a Dow Jones estimate of 22 million job losses.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, last traded 100.167 after crossing the 100 mark earlier.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.24 per dollar after strengthening from levels above 106.5 seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6402, off levels above $0.642 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil prices edged higher in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.47% to $29.86 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also advanced 0.83% to $24.19 per barrel.
— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
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Asia stocks little changed; China's services sector in April slumps - CNBC
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